Jordan Peele, Spike Lee Teaming Up For ‘Black Klansman’ KKK Movie

The film will be an adaptation of the book Black Klansman, in which a black police detective infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan.

In a report from The Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee are collaborating on a film adaptation of Black Klansman, with John David Washington (Denzel Washington‘s son) starring in the movie. Peele will serve as producer while Lee will serve as director and producer of the dramatic crime thriller, which the pair have been working on for at least two years.

Klansman tells the story of Ron Stallworth, a detective in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who in 1978 answered an ad in the local newspaper seeking new Klan members. He not only gained membership, but rose through the ranks to become the head of the local chapter. Stallworth, who is black, was able to gather all sorts of intelligence by pretending to be a white supremacist on the phone or via other forms of correspondence but sent a white fellow officer in his place for any in-person meetings. During his undercover work, Stallworth managed to sabotage several cross-burnings and other activities of the notorious hate group.

Stallworth wrote about his experience in his 2014 memoir Black Klansman. The memoir, as well as its film adaptation, has no connection The Black Klansman, a 1966 Blaxploitation film centered around a black man who exacts revenge on the KKK after they killed his daughter.

The pairing is obviously a big deal considering both Peele and Lee are black directors from different generations coming together to work on a project like this. Back in August, it was revealed that Peele’s directorial debut, Get Out, has been the most profitable movie of 2017.